Why is shortstop 6 and not 5?

HOUSTON At times between pitches, Carlos Correa bounces back and forth at shortstop, shuffling to one side, then the other, as if dropping back in the pocket, ready to avoid the pass rush. When he fields groundballs, he straightens up more than most, standing tall and firing downhill to first base as if zipping a pass over the middle.

Like many infielders these days, he keeps a card in his hat that tells him how fast the runner is on the 20-to-80 scouting scale 60 speed for Dansby Swanson, 80 speed for, say, Trea Turner. He converts the numbers to milliseconds in milliseconds, deciding whether to rush or take his time, to spin or get his feet set, whatever is required.

Correa is, in those ways and others, roughly the equivalent of the Houston Astros quarterback, the emotional center and most vocal anchor of one of the most successful and controversial teams of his time. And as the World Series returns to Houston for Game 6 on Tuesday night, he will be leading those Astros on one final drive.

Story continues below advertisement

At one point, he seemed done, then paused for a second and leaned back into the microphone. I truly love those guys, he added.

Story continues below advertisement

The present for this close-knit group is simple: With a pitching staff so beleaguered that Manager Dusty Baker all but admitted he chose his Game 6 starter (Luis Garcia) by process of elimination, those guys namely, the Astros largely homegrown position player core are going to have to do what got them here in the first place.

Even after scoring nine runs in Sundays Game 5 win, the Astros have yet to look like the dominant offensive team they were for long stretches of the regular season. They have been held to two or fewer runs three times in the World Series and lost all three games. They have scored at least seven runs twice in this series and won both games.

Story continues below advertisement

The Astros have won just one game this postseason in which they scored fewer than six runs. The conclusion is not complicated: Some teams in this postseason have thrived in tight games, but the Astros need to hit to win.

Correa did his part with three hits and two RBI on Sunday, chipping in more hits than he had in the first four games of the Series combined. Even with two solo homers in the Series, second baseman José Altuve is hitting just .217 with two RBI. Altuve has scored 21 of 24 times he has reached base this postseason. Even one more hit here or there in Game 6 and beyond seems likely to alter the Astros fortunes.

Meanwhile, slugger Yordan Alvarez is hitting .063 in the World Series. Until his RBI double in Game 5, Alex Bregman had just one hit in the series, too.

Story continues below advertisement

Baker shuffled his lineup before Game 5 to address the drought. He dropped Bregman from the third spot to seventh, a move he said allowed him to improve the protection behind Alvarez and Yuli Gurriel. Atlanta had been pitching around the American League Championship Series MVP and the AL batting champion all series, and he wanted that to stop. Correa moved up to third from fifth.

The moves seemed to shake some offense loose. Gurriel went 3 for 5 with two runs and an RBI. But cleanup hitter Alvarez, who his manager said was sore after slamming into the wall in pursuit of Jorge Solers home run in Game 4, went 0 for 5 with two strikeouts. After hitting .522 (12 for 23) with a homer, five extra-base hits, seven runs, six RBI and a 1.408 OPS in the ALCS, he has one hit and no RBI in the World Series.

Before Game 5, Bregman spent Sunday in the batting cage, except for the hours he was on the field for batting practice with hitting coach Troy Snitker, taking a few swings and then poring over an iPad just outside the cage to analyze those swings.

Story continues below advertisement

Correa said he hoped Bregmans double Sunday helped get his confidence all the way up. Baker said Monday that while Bregman looked better, he probably wont move him back up in the order for Game 6.

He looked better, but you just dont come out of something overnight generally, Baker said. It didnt take you a day to get in this mess, and its not going to take you a day to get out.

But a day is all the Astros have one day for the offense that got them here to force a decisive Game 7 and let Houston take one last run at a scandal-free title. A day is all Correa may have, too. If the Astros lineup doesnt get rolling against tough but recently inconsistent left-hander Max Fried, Tuesday could be his last night as the heart and soul of one of the best offenses Houston has ever seen.

Story continues below advertisement

I feel like this game is all about confidence. Your swing could be right, but if youre not confident at the plate, bad things are going to happen, Correa said Sunday. Losing those first two games here the way we did, especially that second one, were really tough, and they hit you a little bit. But we found a way to bounce back today, and it gives us a lot of confidence to go to Houston, our home ballpark. One pitch at a time, but were feeling good.